@@include("_includes/header.html", {"title": "StExBar"})

<div class="wrapper">
<div class="content">
    <h2>StExBar: The ultimate tool for Windows Explorer</h2>

    <p>
        <em>Or what Microsoft forgot to implement in the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Explorer">Windows Explorer</a>.</em>
    </p>
    <p>Go to the <a href="https://github.com/stefankueng/tools/releases/latest">download page</a>.</p>
    <section class="important">
        <h2>Windows XP not supported</h2>
        <p>
            StExBar requires Windows Vista or later. It won't work on Windows XP!
        </p>
    </section>
    <p>StExBar provides many useful commands for your everyday use
    of Windows explorer. And you can add as many custom commands on
    your own as you like.</p>
    <a href="./img/stexbar/StExBar.png" title="StExBar screenshot">
        <img src="./img/stexbar/StExBar-small.png" alt="StExBar screenshot" width="240" height="85">
    </a>
    <p><script src="https://www.openhub.net/p/12790/widgets/project_users.js?style=blue"></script></p>
    <p>The commands are not just available from the toolbar, but also
    via hotkeys and via a context menu!</p>
    <p>Have you ever needed to open a console window while you were
    using the explorer? And to have that console already set to the
    directory you're showing in explorer right now? Well, StExBar
    provides that with one simple mouseclick. There's also a hotkey
    defined for this: simply press <kbd>Ctrl+M</kbd> to open the console.</p>
    <p>A "lightweight" console is also available. Simply enter the
    command you like to execute into the edit box on the right of the
    StExBar and hit enter. The command will be executed in the
    system console.</p>
    <p>Have you ever needed to have the name or full path of one or
    more files in another application? <kbd>Ctrl+C</kbd> doesn't work
    here, that won't copy the file path but the file itself. StExBar
    comes to the rescue. It provides two commands, one to copy all
    selected file/foldernames to the clipboard, the other copies the
    whole paths of all selected items. To make it even more easier to
    use this, a hotkey is defined <kbd>Ctrl+Shift+C</kbd> which copies
    the selected paths.</p>
    <img src="./img/stexbar/StEx-newfolder.png" alt="StExBar new folder command" title="StExBar new folder command" width="297" height="145">
    <p>Creating new folders is a common task in explorer. But to
    actually do that, you have to right-click on a folder background,
    choose "New" from the context menu, wait until the submenu finally
    appears, then choose "Folder" from that submenu. Not anymore!
    StExBar provides you the same with one easy click. Or even faster
    with the assigned hotkey: just press <kbd>Ctrl+Shift+N</kbd> and you
    have a new folder created in the current directory.</p>
    <p>Note: Windows 10 has that command already implemented in the explorer with the same keyboard shortcut,
    so on Windows 10, StExBar does not show the "New Folder" command.</p>
    <a href="./img/stexbar/StEx-rename.png" title="StExBar rename dialog">
        <img src="./img/stexbar/StEx-rename-small.png" alt="StExBar rename dialog" width="194" height="67">
    </a>
    <p>StExBar can also help you renaming multiple files at once.
    It uses Regular Expression strings to do so.</p>
    <p>You can add your own commands to StExBar and define hotkeys for them.</p>
    <a href="./img/stexbar/StEx-options.png" title="StExBar Options">
        <img src="./img/stexbar/StEx-options-small.png" alt="StExBar Options" width="126" height="153">
    </a>
    <p>You can start your configured tools and the internal console
    command in <strong>elevated</strong> mode by holding down the left WIN key.
    This works for clicking on the toolbar button as well as when you
    execute the hotkey.</p>
    <p>Go to the <a href="https://github.com/stefankueng/tools/releases/latest">download page</a>.</p>



    <h3 id="installation">Installation</h3>
    <p>Installation is easy, just run the msi installer:</p>
    <a href="./img/stexbar/installer.png" title="StExBar installer">
        <img src="./img/stexbar/installer-small.png" alt="StExBar installer" width="151" height="117">
    </a>

    <p>After installing, StExBar is ready:</p>
    <ol class="ordered-list">
        <li>open an explorer window</li>
        <li>open the menu "View-&gt;Toolbars" (note: on vista, you have to either activate the menu first, or hit the ALT key)</li>
        <li>chose "StExBar" from the list</li>
        <li>you may want to adjust the size and position of StExBar. To do that, you have to first unlock the toolbars with the menu "View-&gt;Toolbars-&gt;Lock the Toolbars"</li>
    </ol>
    <p>After that, StExBar is ready:</p>
    <a href="./img/stexbar/vistaexplorer.png" title="Vista explorer">
        <img src="./img/stexbar/vistaexplorer-small.png" alt="Vista explorer" width="239" height="58">
    </a>
    <p>Note: restarting should not be necessary (only close all Windows Explorer windows).
    But if you don't see StExBar listed in the Toolbars menu, it's most
    likely because Windows caches the installed toolbars:</p>

    <p>Delete the following two registry keys to clear the cache (the registry
    keys will be automatically recreated):</p>
<pre>
HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Discardable\PostSetup\Component Categories\{00021493-0000-0000-C000-000000000046}\Enum
HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Discardable\PostSetup\Component Categories\{00021494-0000-0000-C000-000000000046}\Enum
</pre>
    <p>If StExBar is still not showing properly, go to <em>Internet
    Options/Advanced/Browsing</em> and check there
    <em>Enable third-party browser extensions</em>.
    </p>

    <h3 id="example">Example commands</h3>
    <p>While StExBar already has some useful commands built in,
    you might want to add commands of your own.</p>
        <dl>
            <dt>Open selected file in Editor</dt>
            <dd>
            <p>While for many file types like *.txt a double-click will
            open the file in the editor, many file types have their own
            double-click action and won't open the file in an editor. Here's
            my custom command to open any file in the Windows editor by
            simply hitting <kbd>Ctrl+E</kbd>:</p>
            <a href="./img/stexbar/editor.png" title="Open in Editor command">
                <img src="./img/stexbar/editor-small.png" alt="Open in Editor command" width="143" height="142">
            </a>
            </dd>

            <dt>Toggle the readonly attribute</dt>
            <dd>
            <p>To toggle the readonly attribute of selected files, we
            have to write a small script. The script is in the contrib
            folder of our source code, which you can find
            <a href="https://github.com/stefankueng/tools/tree/main/StExBar/contrib">here</a>.
            The file is called "attrib.js".</p>
            <a href="./img/stexbar/attrib.png" title="toggle readonly attribute">
                <img src="./img/stexbar/attrib-small.png" alt="toggle readonly attribute" width="143" height="143">
            </a>
            </dd>
        </dl>

    <h3 id="contribute">Contribute</h3>
    <p>if you have your own commands and scripts which you think might
    be useful to others, then please share them!</p>
    <p>Just file an issue in our
    <a href="https://github.com/stefankueng/tools/issues">issue tracker</a> and
    attach your script there. Don't forget to mention what your
    script or command does.</p>
    <p>We will put your scripts in our contrib folder for others to use.
    It would be good if you add some comments at the top of your
    scripts which explain what it does and how to use it.</p>
</div>
</div>

@@include("_includes/footer.html")
